Video conferencing is becoming increasingly popular as the various technologies surrounding it develop. While in the past many hurdles existed to conveniently scheduling and hosting video conferences, today they can still be scheduled or even initiated with little notice and involve people from almost anywhere. The reliability and reach of communication networks, easy-to-use conferencing software, and the processing power of modern communication devices are just some examples of how technology now generally supports the routine adoption and deployment of video conferencing.
Within the conference room, many technologies have developed that provide almost life-like interaction between participants in a video conference. If anything, the video conference experience has become closer to an in-person experience than ever before. Many conference rooms are now outfitted with high-definition video systems capable of displaying video captured of remote scenes with such detail and fidelity that local participants and remote participants alike can interact almost as if they are physically present together.
At the same time, inter-device communication has advanced to such a degree that complex and expensive wiring may no longer be needed within a conference room to the same degree as in the past. Some media devices employed in conference environments have wireless capabilities allowing them to transmit or receive video wirelessly so as to avoid the bundle of wires that normally connect such equipment. Such arrangements not only simplify setup of video conferences, but also reduce the cost of building or retrofitting rooms.
For example, many conference environments include display systems having wireless capability. This allows a central media system to wirelessly transmit incoming video directly to a display system for display to local participants in a video conference. In some cases there may be multiple display systems in a room that each receive and display a video feed provided wirelessly by the media system. Many video capture devices are also capable of wirelessly communicating video to other elements within a conference environment which may, in turn, distribute the video for consumption by remote conference participants.
Overview
Provided herein are systems, methods, and software for facilitating wireless conference environments. In an implementation, environment information is obtained that comprises a physical characteristic of a conference environment in which to host a least a portion of a video conference. Schedule information is also obtained that comprises a schedule for a portion of a surrounding environment associated with the conference environment. A wireless configuration is identified in accordance with which to wirelessly exchange video between media systems engaged in the video conference. The configuration is based at least in part on the physical characteristic of the conference environment and the schedule for the portion of the surrounding environment. In some implementations the configuration may reduce, avoid, or mitigate interference associated with the physical characteristic and to reduce other interference implied by the schedule.
This Overview is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Technical Disclosure. It should be understood that this Overview is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.